Welcome to the third edition of The British Beat, my quarterly column on DVD and Blu-ray releases of British TV shows and feature films. This time I have 11 reviews for you: Candlelight in Algeria and Thunder in the City (from VCI); Fresh Fields: Set 1, Midsomer Murders: Set 17, Murder Investigation Team: Series One, Upstairs Downstairs: Series One, Murphy's Law: Series 3, and Single-Handed: Set 1 (from Acorn Media); Dalziel & Pascoe: Season 3 (from BBC Video via Warner Bros.); and Is It Legal?: Series Three and The Governor: Season One (Region 2 releases from Network).

Welcome to the second edition of The British Beat, my quarterly column on DVD and Blu-ray releases of British TV shows and feature films. This time I have 9 reviews for you: Wallander (on Blu-ray from BBC Video, distributed by Warner Bros.); Murder on the Orient Express (on Blu-ray from Acorn Media); The Guilty, Mr. Palfrey of Westminster, Midsomer Murders: Set 16, and Midsomer Murders: Village Case Files (all on DVD from Acorn Media), and Executive Stress: The Complete Second Series, Is It Legal?: The Complete Second Series, and The Likes of Sykes (all on Region 2 PAL DVD from Network). I also have a few comments on the desirability of two recent A&E DVD re-releases: Rumpole of the Bailey: The Complete Series and Benny Hill: The Thames Years 1969-1989 - The Complete Megaset.

As anyone who follows my Classic Coming Attractions column regularly will know, I do occasionally include reviews of British TV series there. They don't really fit that column so I've decided to start up The British Beat as a vehicle more appropriate to such material. This column will be a little more wide-ranging than TV series reviews, though. I'll include coverage of classic and recent movies that are quintessentially British - the Red Riding Blu-ray review in this first edition of the column is a good example. I'll also try to alert you to forthcoming British titles that seem worthy of your attention. The column will appear irregularly, at least to start, and its focus will be on North American releases.

About Barrie Maxwell

Barrie Maxwell began sharing his extensive knowledge of classic film on The Digital Bits in 2002, when his popular Classic Coming Attractions DVD review column first appeared on the site. In the decade that followed, his work on The Bits…